Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a2351a3a0b2f26b9

Jump to content

Gareth Fry

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gareth Fry
Born
United Kingdom
Years active2006–present

Gareth Fry is a sound designer based in the United Kingdom. Fry has won several accolades, including Tony and Olivier awards.[1]

Early life and education

[edit]

Born to a teacher and a panel beater, Fry grew up between Wales and Exeter. He was not interested in theatre growing up,[2] and planned to study artificial intelligence. At age 17, he enrolled in an adult education class that taught MIDI and recording techniques for music production. He became interested in theatre while covering for a sound operator on a production of Amadeus at the Edinburgh Festival in 1992. He went on to study Theatre Design at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, graduating in 1996. He then spent three years working for AMS Acoustics, starting with data entry before moving into speech intelligibility modelling software programming.[3]

Career

[edit]

Fry designed sound for fringe theatre productions, many of which were at the Southwark Playhouse.[4] He also worked simultaneously as a sound operator in London's West End, mixing musicals such as Oh What A Lovely War! and touring internationally with companies like Complicite.[5] Over the course of about 6 years, his sound design work increased frequency until it became full-time.

Fry has worked in the subsidized theatre sector, with shows at venues like the National Theatre,[6] Royal Court and Young Vic Theatre. He has specialized in devised theatre. His work includes over 40 productions with the director Katie Mitchell, including pioneering the use of live Foley sound[7] and live cinema shows, for which he won his first Olivier Award for the sound design of Waves at the National Theatre in 2006.

Gareth also worked on many of Simon McBurney's productions for Complicite, such as The Encounter, for which he also became known for his use of binaural sound on headphones. He has worked with the director John Tiffany, starting with the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch[8] in 2006 and then on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. He won Olivier Awards for his work on both productions.

He has also been involved events and site-specific theatre, such as the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. He worked again with director Danny Boyle on Free Your Mind, an adaptation of The Matrix films, in 2024 at Aviva Studios in Manchester, subsequently televised on the BBC.[9]

Fry has designed radio plays for the BBC, including The Dark is Rising, Shifts, Omay, OK Computer and Jump.[10] He has also designed exhibitions such as V&A's David Bowie Is, Alice: Curiouser and Curiouser and Diva.[11][12][13]

Binaural sound and immersive work

[edit]

Beginning with Complicite's The Encounter in 2015, Fry became more well known for his work in binaural sound and immersive audio. This touring theatre production featured a binaural head onstage, alongside actor Simon McBurney, plus a recorded binaural soundtrack. An audience of up to 850 people wore wired headphones to hear the show's soundtrack. Fry created the sound design with Pete Malkin, and spent time in the Amazon rainforest recording sounds for the show.[14] The sound design was highly praised by reviewers and received multiple awards.[15] He used a similar technique for a production of Macbeth in 2023, starring David Tennant and Cush Jumbo, which was nominated for an Olivier Award and received a 2025 WhatsOnStage award for best sound design.

Fry also used binaural sound on the podcast seriesThe Discovery Adventures, primarily recorded on-location across the UK.[16] He also used it again for the BBC and Complicite radio drama, The Dark is Rising,[17] which was nominated for a Best Use of Sound award at the BBC Audio Drama awards.

He has also created work featuring Spatial Audio for VX, AR and XR formats, with his work showing at the Sundance, Tribeca, Venice and London Film Festivals.[18]

Association of Sound Designers

[edit]

Fry co-founded the charity Association of Sound Designers, and served as chair of the board from 2011 to 2018.[19]

Writing

[edit]

Fry is the author of Sound Design for the Stage, published in 2019 by Crowood Press.[20] He has also authored many articles for the Association of Sound Designers magazine, The Echo.[21]

Accolades

[edit]

Fry was awarded an honorary fellowship to The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in 2016.[22] He was named No. 92 in The Stage 100: Theatre's Power List of 2017.[23]

Fry won the 2007 Olivier Award[24] for his work on Waves at the National Theatre with Katie Mitchell.[25] He won the 2009 Olivier Award[26] for his work on the National Theatre of Scotland's Black Watch, directed by John Tiffany, and won the 2008 Helpmann Award for Black Watch's performances in Australia. In 2018, his work on Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was rewarded with a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, Outer Circle Critics Award,[27] and the 2017 Olivier Award.[28]

Fry won an IRNE Award for Best Sound Design in 2013 for Wild Swans.[29] He was awarded a Tony Award in 2017 for The Encounter, with Pete Malkin.[30] Fry also received the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Design in 2016 for The Encounter, as well as a Drama Desk Awards and a Helpmann Awards in 2017.[1] He won the 2025 WhatsOnStage Awards for Best Sound Design for Macbeth,[31] and was nominated in the same category for Punchdrunk's Viola's Room.

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 "Awards". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  2. ↑ "Sound designer Gareth Fry: 'People are leaving theatre in numbers I've never experienced – I don't know what the solution is'". The Stage. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  3. ↑ "Q&As for students". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  4. ↑ "Gareth Fry | Theatricalia". theatricalia.com. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  5. ↑ "Gareth Fry". Complicité. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  6. ↑ "Gareth Fry | National Theatre". www.nationaltheatre.org.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  7. ↑ "Live Foley Sound". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  8. ↑ "Black Watch". National Theatre of Scotland. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  9. ↑ "Gareth Fry Implements HOLOPLOT at Free Your Mind". United States. 5 December 2023. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  10. ↑ "FILM, TV, RADIO, PODCASTS". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  11. ↑ González-Lafita, Alicia (21 December 2023). "A stage for DIVA • V&A Blog". V&A Blog. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  12. ↑ Merlin, Lalla (22 August 2023). "DIVA: celebrating iconic performers at the V&A". Blooloop. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  13. ↑ "EXHIBITIONS". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  14. ↑ Ramsey, Colby (19 February 2016). "Complicite's The Encounter - Bringing binaural to the Barbican". Audio Media International. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  15. ↑ "2016". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
  16. ↑ nomipalony (2 November 2017). "Why you need to download The Discovery Adventures podcast by Land Rover for your family car journeys #TheDiscoveryAdventures". Nomipalony. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  17. ↑ "The Dark Is Rising Preview Episode released from the BBC World Service". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  18. ↑ "IMMERSIVE". Gareth Fry - Sound Design. Retrieved 27 February 2025.
  19. ↑ "Association of Sound Designers". Association of Sound Designers. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  20. ↑ Press, The Crowood. "Sound Design for the Stage". The Crowood Press. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  21. ↑ "Association of Sound Designers". Association of Sound Designers. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  22. ↑ "2016 Graduation Ceremony". The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. 13 December 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
  23. ↑ "The Stage 100 theatre power list in full for 2017". The Stage. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  24. ↑ "Olivier Winners 2007". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  25. ↑ Szalwinska, Maxie (3 October 2008). "Now hear this: theatre's revolution in sound design". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  26. ↑ "Olivier Awards Winners 2009 -Official London Theatre". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  27. ↑ "Winners". www.tonyawards.com. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  28. ↑ "Olivier Winners 2017". Olivier Awards. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  29. ↑ "The Independent Reviewers of New England Awards: 2013". www.abouttheartists.com. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  30. ↑ "Gareth Fry and Pete Malkin to Be Honored with 2017 Special Tony Awards". www.tonyawards.com. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
  31. ↑ "David Tennant and Cush Jumbo-led Macbeth wins three WhatsOnStage Awards". 9 February 2025. Retrieved 26 February 2025.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gareth_Fry&oldid=1366380768"